Spring films arrive from Lanvin, Calvin Klein and David Beckham Bodywear for H&M

It’s been a bit of a week for fashion film releases, with highlights coming in from Lanvin, Calvin Klein and H&M surrounding the spring/summer 2013 campaigns.

 

Lanvin, a firm favourite every season thanks to the genius of creative director Alber Elbaz, has unveiled a spot that seems as though it’s just focusing on the print shoot in action. The models are each seen posing in beautiful surrounds very calmly, before suddenly a Skype call comes in from Elbaz who was unable to get to New York due to Hurricane Sandy.

What follows is highly amusing commentary from him on the “sick perspective” and “beautiful lighting” of the campaign. “It’s very very poetic, very chic,” he says. “There’s something very Californian about [it]… You know I’m still at the office. I feel I’m in a dream, I feel I’m in a cloud.”

 

Calvin Klein meanwhile, followed its Super Bowl underwear spot with the rest of its spring/summer campaign. Actor Alexander Skarsgård and model Suvi Koponen both star in its film, Provocations, which sees the men’s and women’s Calvin Klein Collection, ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans brands all brought together for the first time. There are three variations of it available: 10 minutes, 60 seconds and 30 seconds (above).

Shot on location in California by Fabien Baron of Baron + Baron, it focuses on recurring elements of fire, air and water as the pair are seen in a variety of “sleek, architectural settings to dark and mysterious milieus”.

 

And H&M roped in film director Guy Ritchie to shoot David Beckham in his first video spot for the retailer. The ad sees Beckham chasing after his family car after his bathrobe gets stuck in the door. As he runs / jumps / swims through the Beverly Hills neighbourhood he continues to lose other items of clothing remaining in just the boxers from his Bodywear line.

“David makes the perfect leading man,” said Ritchie. “For me this felt more than a campaign; it was like directing a short film.”

Digital snippets: London 2012 #Olympics special!

London 2012 has been dubbed the “social media Olympics”, and rightly so given the overwhelming growth seen all things digital even since Beijing in 2008.

All the usual platforms are proving relevant, from YouTube to Instagram, and of course Twitter for real-time updates. Facebook launched a special page featuring links to athletes, teams and sports, while so too is there an official Olympic Hub from the IOC, and a partnership between LOCOG and Foursquare. There was even a dedicated hashtag to keep what happens during the opening ceremony a secret: #savethesurprise.

And then of course there are the brands. Official sponsor or not, the online space is awash with those tapping in as closely as they can to sporting fever.

It all kicks off officially from tonight, but until then here are a couple of the best campaigns we’ve seen across the digital space so far:

• adidas and David Beckham surprise fans: This one might be a real-world activation, but there’s nothing quite like a viral video to get everyone talking about it: 2.3m views and counting of adidas surprising shoppers having their pictures taken in its #takethestage photo booth with a guest appearance by David Beckham (as below) [YouTube]

• Coca Cola’s Move to the Beat campaign: In the aim of connecting younger people to the action, Coca Cola teamed up with Mark Ronson and turned to music. The Grammy Award-winning producer recorded the sounds of five different Olympic sports and used the resulting beats to create a track, as shown below. The brand is also inviting fans to have a go at remixing themselves via a dedicated app [Coca Cola]

• EDF uses Twitter to dictate colour of London Eye: London’s infamous Ferris wheel is set to become a giant mood ring as EDF Energy teams up with Sosolimited to display different colours based on the sentiment of tweets around the Games [Mashable]

• Nike’s Find Your Greatness spot pushes Olympic advertising rules: The first non-sponsor to mention is of course Nike. An expert at ambush marketing (Write the Future a case in point), the brand has launched an ad that references other places around the world also called London (as below). “Greatness is not in one special place, it is not in one special person; greatness is wherever somebody is trying to find it,” says the narrator. It is also backed by a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #findgreatness [Fast Co]

• Visa invites consumers to send in cheers: Part of Visa’s Go World campaign for the Olympics invites fans to submit a cheer to the participating athletes in the form of a click, post or video via Facebook. A lucky few will go on to feature in special-edition spots celebrating the achievements of Team Visa athletes in real-time [TheInspirationRoom]

• Nastia Liukin pushes Fantastic Gymnastics Dora doll and app: The latest doll from Dora the Explorer is a London 2012 gymnast special being promoted by Team USA five-time Olympic medallist Nastia Liukin. It also comes with an augmented reality app for kid’s to watch her come to life [BrandChannel]

• Harrods welcomes everyone to London: A very simple one here, but nonetheless noteworthy. Harrods posted a collaged picture featuring multiple icons of London associated with its own store as well as the Olympics on Facebook. The accompanying text read: “Over the coming weeks, London will play host to many visitors. We would simply like to say… Welcome to our wonderful city. #LoveLondon” [Harrods]

In case you haven’t seen them, there’s also the incredible Best Job spot from P&G (almost 5.5m views), Specsavers’ response to the Korean flag blunder, and the giant Jessica Ennis #homeadvantage image from British Airways on the Heathrow flight path (as pictured top).

Spot any more? Do add them to the comments…

 

 

Digital snippets: Alexander Wang, Nike+, Nordstrom, Elle UK, Woolmark

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

 

• Alexander Wang releases autumn/winter 2012 Confessional Series video featuring Shalom Harlow (as above) [Alexander Wang]

• Nike+ Kinect Training launch will mean virtual personal trainers in your living room [Mashable]

• Nordstrom teams up with GQ for e-commerce push [WWD]

• Watch Elle UK’s behind the cover video of David Beckham [Elle UK]

• Woolmark Co sets social media campaign [WWD]

• This start-up pulls in top pins on Pinterest and crossreferences against 250+ e-commerce sites [Business Insider]

• Some 15% of luxury goods sales are directly generated by digital media [FT]

• Square doubles its retail presence, now in 20,000 outlets [TechCrunch]

• Can social breathe life back into the high street [Guardian]

Elle UK live tweets Beckham cover shoot

UK Elle magazine provided its Twitter and Facebook fans with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to its July 2012 cover shoot with David Beckham in Los Angeles yesterday.

The initiative followed the success of a similar one with Twilight actress Kristen Stewart last month (she will cover the June issue). This however marks the first time the mag has had a solo male appear, which provided the editorial team with a wealth of opportunity to build hype around the event before Beckham’s name was revealed. A poll was cast on the website, alongside a series of teaser stories.

The live tweets began last night following the official announcement yesterday morning. Although full shots of Beckham weren’t ever shown, the editors set the scene with descriptions and snaps of everything from their lunch to the clothes rail being selected from. There was even a close-up on the football player’s tattoos – proof if it was ever needed. Followers were also invited to send in their own questions to @ELLEuk and through its #BeckhamElle hashtag.

The move is an interesting one for a magazine; tapping into the all-important notion of ‘real-time’ in today’s social media world by opening up the one part of its publication that tends to remain under wraps until it hits the shelves. On each occasion Elle has done it just enough to grab attention amid the “noise”, and yet not so much so as to damage levels of interest when the issue is actually printed. It’ll be interesting to see newsstand sales and subscription growth in relation for both.

The choice of Beckham is said to be a nod to the 2012 Olympic Games this summer. Elle’s editor-in-chief Lorraine Candy, said: “David Beckham is a national hero, so we saw an opportunity to shoot a celebratory cover to support an historical and patriotic year. He is an icon and Elle is known for featuring icons on its cover.”

The issue will be available from May 30. View more of the behind-the-scenes pics, here.

Infographic: UK retail’s earned media mentions in February

Harvey Nichols proved one of the highest mentioned retailers in the UK during London Fashion Week thanks to its exclusive launch of the Victoria by Victoria Beckham collection, according to a new barometer released by Gorkana looking at earned media trends in February.

Topshop and Asos were also present, alongside the perhaps more surprising PC World and Curry’s; the result of a designer dress made from 500m of electric cables.

Overall, the lead retailer in both mainstream and social media mentions during the month, was Tesco, with 11,180 and 99,07 references respectively. Other grocery stores including Asda and Sainsbury’s also feature on both lists, an interesting comparison with the fashion industry, which saw mainstream media focusing more on department stores including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and House of Fraser, compared to social media’s reference to Asos, Topshop, Primark and H&M.

Other big subjects mentioned in February included Valentine’s, of course, as well as David Beckham for his new Bodywear line at H&M.

See the full infographic with all the stats below:

Video: David Beckham ad hand-painted on mega New York billboard

Love this – H&M has released a time-lapse video showing a 220ft hand-painted mural of David Beckham in his new Bodywear collection, going up on 34th Street and 8th Avenue in New York.

The process reportedly took two weeks. “Enjoy the making of one of America’s oldest forms of advertising,” reads the YouTube synopsis…

The Super Bowl’s stylish digital spin, featuring H&M, Madonna and Vogue [PICS]

No surprise to hear that last night’s Super Bowl XLVI hit an all-time record on Twitter in the sports event category. The ‘Social Super Bowl’, as it was readily dubbed, hit an average of 10,000 tweets per second during the last three minutes of the game.

But there were two other digital aspects to the game that I loved, no less because they’re related to the fashion industry…

First up, is all about H&M. As we already know, the Swedish retailer aired its new David Beckham Bodywear ad during the second quarter, which inevitably proved a key conversation point in the social space (it’d be interesting to break those Twitter stats up minute by minute not to mention demographically).

But, the company also very cleverly paid attention to what else might hit a high in terms of chatter, and of course came up with Madonna’s halftime show. Consequently the trending topic for #Madonna was sponsored by H&M. Genius:

(Image via @AmyJoMartin)

The second great thing, of course, was the digital stage set accompanying Givenchy-clad Madonna, and its subsequent shout out to Vogue.

The interactive installation was designed by Canadian multimedia studio, Moment Factory. Here’s a closer look:

THAT David Beckham for H&M Super Bowl ad

Below is a preview of H&M’s David Beckham Bodywear ad, due to air during the second quarter of Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday.

The retailer is also set to unveil a hand-painted version of Beckham in his underwear on a billboard on Eighth Avenue and 34th Street in New York, this week. The process will be documented as a time-lapse video on YouTube.

 

Royal wedding dominates Facebook status updates

There were some 684,399 status updates on Facebook in the UK about the royal wedding during the space of four hours this morning; the equivalent of 47 mentions per second.

References to Kate Middleton and then Prince William took the top two spots, with 131,385 and 104,747 mentions respectively, closely followed by that of Prince Harry in third with 64,107 mentions. “Princess Catherine” got less than 2,000 references.

The Beckhams took fourth and fifth spot with David receiving 22,421 mentions and his pregnant wife Victoria, 12,346.

Joanna Shields, vice president of Facebook EMEA, said: “These numbers show the sheer scale of the public’s response to the royal wedding; millions are using Facebook to share what they think about every last detail of the ceremony.”

Fashion was also a big subject as speculation over who the now Duchess of Cambridge would wear. Sarah Burton got some 13,000 mentions throughout the day, while a further 7,863 mentions went to Alexander McQueen.

At time of publish, nearly 9,000 people have joined a group called “Princess Beatrice’s ridiculous royal wedding hat”.

On Twitter there were reportedly some 67 mentions about the royal wedding every second. The promoted hashtag #royalwedding dominated, while #proudtobebritish also rose up the rankings. William and Kate, and Sarah Burton were similarly key in the top trending topics.

Some of the best images can be seen on The British Monarchy’s Flickr stream: www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy

Here’s the full list of guest mentions on Facebook in the UK:

1    Kate Middleton
131,385 mentions
2    Prince William
104,747 mentions
3    Prince Harry
64,107 mentions
4    David Beckham
22,421 mentions
5    Victoria Beckham
12,346 mentions
6    Elton John
12,283 mentions
7    Princess Diana
11,103 mentions
8    Pippa Middleton
8,619 mentions
9    Prince Charles
6,791 mentions
10    Princess Beatrice
4,439 mentions
11    Princess Catherine
1,928 mentions
12    Princess Eugenie
1,385 mentions
13    Guy Ritchie
290 mentions